13.11.13

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in '02' | Review

Morning all! I haven't written up a beauty review in months, literally. Being honest, I haven't felt entirely enthusiastic about beauty lately - I've stuck to using the products I love and that I've already reviewed on here. I rarely buy makeup anymore, apart from concealers and foundations here and there; I decided to treat myself to the famous 'Skin Base' foundation from Illamasqua a few weeks back when I was walking around Carnaby Street. I've heard endless amount of praises about this product and was delighted when I was matched almost instantly to a shade in the shop.

My first impressions were good; the match to my Casper-like skin was flawless with the shade '02' (yellow with pink undertones). It is probably one of the only foundations that has ever genuinely matched me so well (along with MUFE's Velvet Mat+ in 'Alabaster'). I thought the bottle was gorgeous, almost like a genie lamp. £27 was an okay price for 30ml of product; I'm used to paying around €30 for them regularly, as no extremely pale shades are sold in Boots etc (I've tried them ALL, before you leave me recommendations haha).

I was dying to try it out properly and I wore it the next day. I was immensely disappointedas soon as I started applying it! It latched on to any dry areas of my face, it automatically separated and looked scaly all around my T-Zone, it dragged when I tried to blend it in and it looked absolutely awful on me. No sheen, no skin showing through - I looked like a corpse. It had nothing to do with the shade mind - I always look ghost-like - it was the actual texture of the foundation that made me look 2D. I wore it out that day regardless, to see if it would improve as the day went on. It didn't. It continued to separate, my T-Zone was practically makeup-less after a few hours and I felt that any bit of moisture was sucked out of my skin. (You can see in my photographed swatch that the blended swatch on the righthand side is already looking cakey after seconds of application - on my hand!)

I decided to test out the foundation in different elements, to give it a good go for a review; I wore it in work (air-conditioning, can get hot, can't reapply for 5 hours until I'm off), outside (rain, cold, heat) and general indoors. It had the same effect each time. I have combination-oily skin, so the fact it made my skin dry was so bizarre to me - it's usually the opposite with foundation! The Pixiwoo sisters are huge fans and they have really dry skin, so maybe it only works for that skin type (although that still doesn't make sense in my head).

The only good thing about this foundation is the match to my skintone. I fell out of love with the bottle after a few uses, as it becomes hard to squeeze and get foundation out of it. I'd give 'Skin Base' merely a 2/10 for the match and the service I received in the shop. I definitely wouldn't recommend this if you're of a similar skin type to me; if you want to give it a go, PLEASE try a sample out first. I'm raging I spent £27 on something I'll probably never use. (Expect this to be sold in a blog sale soon, I know a heap of fans of 'Skin Base' are out there!)

I’m Leanne Woodfull, a recent NCAD graduate, all round creative and Irish blogger here at Thunder & Threads. I began my blogging journey in 2009, after I read a magazine hailing it the “next big thing”. Fast forward nine years and it’s my career! Topics of interest include fashion, cruelty free beauty, travel and feminism but I delve into an array of different subjects from time to time. Do stick around and drop me a line on social media below. Enjoy!